(Dan Tri) – The Taliban has reintroduced harsh punishments to govern the country since coming to power in Afghanistan, but does not allow bribery or corruption.
Taliban gunmen patrolling in Kabul (Photo: Reuters).
It’s not yet 7 a.m., but a long line of people is already waiting outside the police station in Kabul.
However, they immediately discovered that the Taliban fighters, who were acting as police officers, did not accept bribes like the policemen under the US-backed government of the past 20 years.
`In the past, they (police) used to `steal` our money. They asked for money everywhere, whether in the villages or at government agencies,` said Hajj Ahmad Khan, one of the people.
Many Afghans fear the Taliban’s harsh ways, its hard-line ideology or its strict restrictions on women’s freedom.
However, the Taliban is known to be a force that does not accept bribes and corruption, in sharp contrast to the government that was overthrown by the Taliban.
Although afraid of the Taliban’s tough sanctions, such as cutting off the hands of thieves or stoning adulterers to death, Afghans must admit that the security situation has returned to the capital Kabul since the Taliban took over.
Under the previous government, gangs of robbers were so rampant that people did not dare go out after dark.
When they came to power in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, the Taliban made a choice: They pledged to bring stability to the Afghan people and eliminate corruption, but they also imposed harsh rules of law.
These regulations include punishments such as cutting off limbs and executing murderers by shooting bullets in the head, and this is often carried out by relatives of the murder victim.
Meanwhile, religious police can beat men if they trim their beards or do not attend prayers.
In the past week alone, the Taliban arrested 85 suspects, including some accused of petty crimes and others arrested for murder, kidnapping and theft.
Taliban gunmen patrol an area to search for suspects in a stabbing incident in Kabul on September 12 (Photo: AP).
After returning to power, the Taliban announced they would reimpose previous punishments.
In fact, some penalties have reappeared.
At least twice in Kabul, petty thieves were paraded through the streets to shame them.
Afghan officials said Taliban fighters had seized checkpoints across Kabul and were wearing police uniforms – a sign that the Taliban had begun building a new national security force.
As before, the Taliban are looking to tribal elders to resolve disputes.
At the police station in Kabul, Zabihullah, the new commander of the Taliban force, said the Taliban had been fighting for the past 20 years to bring Islamic law to Afghanistan.
Mr. Khan, 60, who lives in Khost province, lined up outside the Kabul police station to ask the Taliban for help in collecting a debt.
A principal also went to the Taliban police station to complain about parents’ delay in paying school fees for many months.